THE equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange rebounded from Thursday’s loss to close positive on the last trading day of the week.

Indeed, the benchmark index – All Share Index – gained 225 points to close for the week at 31, 049.37 points.

The bullish close was driven by positive investor sentiment towards banking stocks — GTBank (10.2 per cent), Zenith (10.2 per cent) and FBNH (10.1 per cent) – following the impressive earnings result released by GTBank and Zenith Bank on Friday.

Market activities measured by volume and value traded also advanced by 58.8 per cent and 80.9 per cent to 601.3m units and N7.5 billion.

All sector indices closed in the green on Friday, save for the oil and gas index which declined by 0.4 per cent.

The banking sector index surged by 7.4 per cent to lead gains, against the backdrop of the rally in GTBank (10.2 per cent) and Zenith (10.2 per cent), followed by the insurance index which rose by 1.6 per cent.

Similarly, the industrial goods and consumer goods indices climbed by 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.

Market sentiments was positive as the market breadth (advancers/ decliners ratio) berthed at 2.5x with 37 advancers and 15 decliners.

Topping the price gainers’ list were GTBank (10.2 per cent), Zenith (10.2 per cent) and FBN (10.1 per cent), whilst Berger Paints (5.0 per cent), May and Baker (5.0 per cent) and Presco (5.0 per cent) led market decliners.

Consequent on the predominantly bullish trading in the market last week, the relative strength index of the benchmark index strengthened to the overbought region of 77.8, highlighting the positive sentiment in the market.

Analysts expect sentiments to stay positive at the beginning of this week as investors continue to anticipate more earnings result from quoted companies.

Overall, the performance of the market this week will be shaped by earnings season.